NUEVA VIZCAYA GOVERNOR DEFIES RAPS OF MINING FIRM

OceanaGold Phils., Inc., an Australian firm engaged in a multibillion mining exploration project at Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya has filed charges against Provincial Governor Luisa Lloren Cuaresma and other provincial officials at the Office of the Ombudsman for Grave Coercion, Graft and Harassment and lately an administrative case at the Office of the President for Abuse of Authority, Misconduct and Oppression.

This dissipative move of OceanaGold was weighed down as an offensive ploy to employ harassment and intimidation not only to local authorities but also to the people of Nueva Vizcaya as well.

This move came amidst controversies that instigated on issues of human rights abuses, discounted compromises, environmental squalor and persistent defiance to local laws on taxation which was assailed as arrogance by the mining firm, and the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) issued by the governor.                    

Unfounded allegation of corruption

Cuaresma who has yet to receive copies of said complaints said she stood responsible for her actions.  “If compassion is a transgression and if this is the reward of an upright move, I am ready to face the costs.  As Governor, I have to defend my constituents who fall victims of abuses and until such atrocities ceased and tribal folks of Didipio will be bequeathed of the injustices OceanaGold had them suffered, I stood firm to my conviction”, said the principled governor.

“The allegation of corruption is unfounded and never will I allow corruption to infest my administration.  My family is deeply affected with the slanderous allegation. Let OceanaGold prove this maligning accusation or otherwise get through its consequences”, Cuaresma further said.

Call to human rights advocates

Cuaresma said that her office still receives continuous reports from Didipio residents cases of human right violations, fears and intimidation.  She said that the brutal killing of village chief Baguilat just recently was an aftermath of what OceanaGold calls as development.

“Didipio, the once tranquil hamlet of harmonious and peace loving people fall prey to pretenses of development. It is progress in exchange of dignity.  I am appealing to peace and human right advocates all over the world to help me redeem the self-esteem of displaced indigenous people of Didipio who were illegally extricated from their ancestral domain with thousand still facing ejection to pave the way to what I may describe as the gold site of greed”.

Outpouring support

Thousand of anti-mining advocates, civil society groups and People Organizations asked President Arroyo to revoke the exploration permit of the OceanaGold Phils., Inc. The group was also represented by a church back organization.

 The groups presented to Governor Cuaresma and members of the Provincial Board their stand during a rally at the provincial capitol right at the time when a Resolution withdrawing support to OceanaGold, Phils., Inc. was successfully passed on second reading at the legislative chamber.

Illegal demolition

The Governor and people of Didipio pulled off a feat in a court Order by Judge Vicente Panay of the Regional Trial Court when he issued a Writ of Preliminary Injunction against the dismantling and demolition undertaken by OceanaGold on several houses at the project site. In his Order, Panay said that the issuance of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction is warranted under the circumstances and thereby orders OceanaGold Phils., Inc. to cease, desist and refrain from demolishing houses under further order from the court.

The Order roiled from a complaint from Didipio residents asking the court to stop the demolition of their houses..#Nequita Castro